Mr. Aleem Bharmal, KC is a human rights lawyer with the Community Legal Assistance Society (CLAS) and was its former Executive Director for 12 years from late 2007 to 2019. Mr. Bharmal has practised human rights law for over 20 years at CLAS, a not-for-profit legal organization advancing dignity, equality, and justice in BC since 1971. Mr. Bharmal has been a presenter on human rights, social justice, access to justice, and legal ethics issues. He served as the President of the Canadian Bar Association, B.C. Branch (CBABC) for the 2022-23 term and has chaired or been on the executive of a number of CBABC Sections and Committees, including the Social Justice and Human Rights Sections, the Policy & Advocacy and Finance Committees, among others. Mr. Bharmal is also a CBABC law student mentor with the University of British Columbia Allard School of Law, his alma mater.
In late 2015, Mr. Bharmal and his co-counsel, Ms. Clea Parfitt, won a very lengthy, high-profile racial discrimination case involving Indo-Canadian veterinarians in B.C. In early 2016, he was involved with other non-profit groups and stakeholders in the launch of an Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline presently administered by Access Pro Bono B.C. In the summer of 2016, Mr. Bharmal was awarded the CBABC President’s Medal in recognition of his significant contributions to the legal profession. In 2017, he was elected to the CBABC Provincial Council and then onto the CBABC Executive in 2018. In 2019, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel by the Attorney General of B.C. in recognition of his major contributions to law in B.C. In 2020, Mr. Bharmal was acclaimed Second Vice-President of the CBABC, a ladder position, and has just completed his term as President.
Mr. Bharmal was most recently elected as a Bencher of the Law Society of B.C. for Vancouver District and will begin his two-year term in 2024.
